Crystal Palace vs Shakhtar Donetsk Preview & Prediction | 2025-26 UEFA Conference League

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Crystal Palace have one foot in a first European final as they welcome Shakhtar Donetsk to Selhurst Park for the second leg of their UEFA Conference League semi-final.

Kick-off date/time:

How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / USA – Not televised

How to watch online: UK – HBO Max / USA – Paramount+

Key stats

The first leg was the first UEFA competition match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Crystal Palace.
This is the first semi-final tie between English and Ukrainian teams in a UEFA men’s club competition.
Following their 3-1 first‑leg victory, Crystal Palace have now won both of their UEFA matches against Ukrainian opposition, having also recorded a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in Poland on Matchday 1 of the 2025/26 Conference League proper.
Crystal Palace are the fifth English club to reach the UEFA Conference League semi‑finals, after Leicester (2021/22), West Ham (2022/23), Aston Villa (2023/24) and Chelsea (2024/25). West Ham and Chelsea won their semi‑final ties and went on to lift the trophy.
This is only Crystal Palace’s second season in UEFA competition, following their 1998 Intertoto Cup campaign, and they are in a major UEFA semi-final for the first time.
Crystal Palace are aiming to become the third English club to reach the UEFA Conference League final, after West Ham and Chelsea. England and Italy currently share the record with two different clubs each.
Crystal Palace have won their last four UEFA two-legged ties.
Crystal Palace have lost only three of their 15 previous UEFA matches this season (W8 D4).
Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last five UEFA home matches (W3 D2), with clean sheets in the three most recent games.
Prior to this tie, Crystal Palace have won both of their previous UEFA two‑legged ties in which they won the first leg. This is their first such tie in which a first‑leg lead has come from an away win.
Ismaïla Sarr has scored in Crystal Palace’s last four UEFA Conference League matches, netting five goals in that run. He is the joint‑top scorer in the competition proper this season with eight goals, alongside Mikael Ishak (Lech Poznań) and Marius Mouandilmadji (Samsunspor).
Shakhtar Donetsk have won only one of their last 11 UEFA matches against English clubs (D2 L8).
Shakhtar Donetsk are winless in their ten previous UEFA matches in England against English opposition, with eight defeats and two draws.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s only previous UEFA two‑legged ties against English opposition were a 3-1 aggregate win over Tottenham in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 32 and a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Fulham in the 2009/10 Europa League round of 32.
Shakhtar Donetsk are appearing in their fourth UEFA semi‑final. They beat Dynamo Kyiv 3-2 on aggregate in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, lost 5-3 on aggregate to Sevilla in the 2015/16 Europa League, and were defeated 5–0 by Inter in the single‑leg 2019/20 Europa League semi‑final.
Shakhtar Donetsk are the first Ukrainian club to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s appearance this season is the first by a Ukrainian team in a UEFA men’s club semi‑final since their 2019/20 Europa League run. The last Ukrainian side to win a UEFA semi‑final was Dnipro in the 2014/15 Europa League, when they defeated Napoli 2-1 on aggregate.
Shakhtar Donetsk have lost all the six previous UEFA two-legged ties in which they lost the first leg by a two-goal margin.

Crystal Palace vs Shakhtar Donetsk prediction

Crystal Palace are very much in the ascendency in this UEFA Conference League semi-final tie against Shakhtar Donetsk, having won 1-3 in the first leg last week in Poland, and they will fancy themselves to finish the job at Selhurst Park and reach what would be an historic European final for the club.

Palace star Ismaila Sarr continued his strong goalscoring form in the competition by scoring the fastest Conference League goal in history last week, netting after just 21 seconds, while Daichi Kamada and Jorgen Strand Larsen struck in the second half after Shakhtar had equalised just after the break.

The Seagulls delivered a laboured performance in a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, but their attention was very much on this tie. Shakhtar, meanwhile, won their fourth straight domestic contest on the same day.

Palace simply boast more attacking talent than the visitors, and that is likely to tell once again at Selhurst Park.

Crystal Palace vs Shakhtar Donetsk tip: Crystal Palace to win